I was a car obsessed kid in the fall of 1965.
It was the perfect time to be a kid because cars, 60s pop culture and model car kits overlapped like turkey overlaps ham in a Monte Cristo sandwich.
In other words, it was a golden era and the Fall 1965 edition of ‘Popular Customs’ magazine explained it better than any TV documentary on the mid-60s era ever made.
Jerry Sutherland
For the record, ‘Popular Customs’ only published from Spring 1963 to September 1966 for a total of 14 magazines. That’s probably why I’d never hard of it until a copy showed up in a box of old car magazines.
However, I did know about the people, things and culture in ‘Popular Customs’. Guys like George Barris were gods to a young me because his cars were the top of the heap in Hollywood customs.
George wrote for the magazine and offered custom building tech advice. He was also under contract to AMT, so he designed customs for their 3-in-1 kits. The magazine featured two of George’s cars—the Mustang Zebra from the Dean Martin movie ‘Marriage On The Rocks’.
They also featured the Barris Ala Cart.
That custom was reborn by popular demand after a fire burned the original version and AMT was pressured to have it rebuilt by Barris.
Gene Winfield was another car guy star in this edition of ‘Popular Customs’. They did an extensive interview with him, and it was pure Winfield.
He talked about bondo, and how much he hated it when custom builders used it too much. Winfeld also talked about creativity and craftsmanship—plus he’d just cut a deal for custom AMT model kit parts design.
They featured the ’65 Comet Cyclone Sportster built for the Ford Custom Caravan.
‘Popular Customs’ also did a feature on Gene’s legendary ‘Jade Idol‘ ’56 Mercury. That custom put him on the map and was brought back from an unfortunate crash. Again…by popular demand.
This magazine did a story on Daryll Starbird. I wasn’t as familiar with him as a builder, but I did know his Monogram model kits.
He generally worked on customizing newer cars by 1965, but I wasn’t enthusiastic about his ’65 Buick Riviera custom after he installed single open headlights in one. It just didn’t work for me because the ’65 Riv was a work of art on its own.
Dean Jeffries was the last builder they featured in this magazine. He was a true Hollywood car guy because if you know the Monkeemobile, you’ve seen his work.
He hung around with the elite in entertainment and one of his most famous builds was the Manta Ray from the movie ‘Bikini Beach’. This custom had an all-aluminum body with a Maserati chassis and a Ford Cobra engine. It became a feature car for Hot Wheels.
Finally, the Mustang was nearly brand new in ’65, so ‘Popular Customs’ featured a bunch of bolt-on custom pieces, so your Mustang would look different than all the other Mustangs or “horses”–as ‘Popular Customs’ called them.
The grilles tended to look generic, but I liked the custom taillights—Ford should have jumped on that idea.
Famous custom builders and 60s pop culture— ‘Popular Customs’ was definitely over the target in 1965.
Jerry Sutherland
By: Jerry Sutherland
Jerry Sutherland is a veteran automotive writer with a primary focus on the collector car hobby. His work has been published in many outlets and publications, including the National Post, Calgary Herald, Edmonton Journal, Ottawa Citizen, Montreal Gazette, Saskatoon StarPhoenix, Regina Leader-Post, Vancouver Sun and The Truth About Cars. He is also a regular contributor to Auto Roundup Publications.
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